The present invention concerns a device for connecting parts having holes with different center-to-center distances, that is to say, a device that may be used to connect a first part to a second part, using bolts or similar threaded elements, in those cases where the distance between at least two bolt holes in the first part is different from the corresponding distance between two holes in the second part.
The parts which may be connected are mechanical elements and a preferred embodiment of the invention is used for fitting wheels to vehicle axle hubs.
Motor vehicle wheels have a plurality of holes, usually from three to five, distributed along the circumference of a circle whose center is the center of the wheel; on a plate (commonly known as "hub"), attached and perpendicular to the axle, there is a plurality of threaded holes corresponding to the holes in the wheel; the wheel is held to the axle hub by retaining bolts inserted through the holes in the wheel and screwed into the threaded holes in the hub.
The configurations of the holes in the wheel and hub differ from one motor vehicle make to another, and even from one model to another, depending on design choices made in response to functional and aesthetic requirements.
The differences consist not only in the number of holes in the wheel (and of the corresponding threaded holes in the hub) but also in the center-to-center distance between one hole and another in the wheel (or between two corresponding threaded holes in the hub).
Basically, the radius of the circle, along whose circumference the holes in the wheel are arranged, may differ from that of the threaded holes in the axle hub.
At present, it is not possible to fit wheels with holes whose centers are at a given distance from each other to vehicles whose axle hubs have holes whose centers are at a different distance from each other, even if the difference is minimal.
The aim of the present invention is to overcome the drawback just mentioned and thus to enable two mechanical parts to be bolted together even if the distance between the centers of the bolt holes in one part differs from that between the centers of the bolt holes in the other part.